LAS CRUCES >> Southern New Mexico's largest city has picked up a dubious distinction. The online publication 247wallst.com lists Las Cruces as one of 10 "American cities where wages are plummeting."

Las Cruces is No. 7 on the list. The publication compared wages from December 2011 to December 2012 and reports that wage growth during that time period fell 1.2 percent in Las Cruces. The statistics come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' quarterly census of employment and wages.

"The average weekly wage of $678 in Las Cruces in the fourth quarter of 2012 was at its lowest point since 2008," Samuel Weigley with 247wallst.com writes in his report.

One big factor was a step back in wages in the category of public employment.

"The public sector, the largest in the Las Cruces area and generally higher paying, shrank by 4.1 percent from December 2011 to December 2012," the publication reports.

Jim Peach, who teaches economics at New Mexico State University, said he is not surprised that any decline in public sector jobs would have such an impact in the area.

"Las Cruces is really unusual in that government jobs are high-wage jobs compared to most things you can get in Las Cruces," Peach said. "In most parts of the country, it's not that way. In Doña Ana County, a third of total employment is government, and government employment is not a growth industry right now."

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Sarah Nolan, executive director with CAFe in Las Cruces -- a nonprofit organization that works with low and moderate-income families to help shape public policies -- said this news should revive the call for an increase in the minimum wage. There was an attempt in this year's state legislative session to increase the minimum wage in New Mexico from $7.50 an hour to $8.50 an hour.

"My concern is that right now we lost 4 percent of public sector jobs, good-paying jobs that are being replaced with or part-time or low-wage work," Nolan said. "(One thing) to help put more money in people's pockets is raise the minimum wage. That'll be an additional $40 in workers' pockets. That's more money for groceries. When people get money, they'll spend it pretty quickly."

"The co-op values providing a living wage," Hirtzel said. "A fair number of people have been here for many years."

The starting wage at the co-op is $9.15, she said. There are about 40 employees.

President Obama has recently called for an increase in the minimum wage. GoBankingRates.com reports that according to the White House, a full-time minimum wage worker earns $14,500 a year, an amount the president argued is far too small to support an individual, much less his family.

"Even though our businesses are creating new jobs and have broken record profits, nearly all the income gains of the past 10 years have continued to flow to the top 1 percent," Obama said this week. The average CEO has received a raise of nearly 40 percent since 2009. The average American earns less than he or she did in 1999."

Peach agrees that higher wages will also help the economy's bottom line.

"I think we're ready for an increase of minimum wage nationally as well as in New Mexico," he said. "The thing about the low end of the wage scale is somebody earning minimum wage is going to spend all of that. Somebody at the upper end of the wage scale is going to save a lot of it."

Tom Hutchinson, though, disagrees. The co-owner of the restaurant La Posta de Mesilla and chairman of the board for Citizens Bank, Hutchinson said that raising the minium wage will ultimately pass the cost on to the consumer.

"It's automatic inflation," he said.

Hutchinson said that many small businesses will not be able to absorb extra increase in payroll without raising their prices.